


The Escape

by DarthTella



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Confessions of love, F/M, Fake Marriage, Romance, Snogging, Tumblr Prompt, jailbreak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 01:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17992079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthTella/pseuds/DarthTella
Summary: The Doctor and Rose have been captured by an evil king who wants to marry Rose, but not for love.  Rose takes it upon herself to bust them out of there.





	The Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by thegeekywhovian who prompted me with "You want me to what?"
> 
> It was supposed to be a light and fluffy prompt... but my muse went a completely different direction.

“You want me to what?” Rose asked, staring King Axolm down. The king smiled at her benignly which made Rose tremble with rage even more. The things this man had done, the slaughtering of innocents to gain his position of power without even a bat of his rather long eyelashes, it all made her sick to her stomach.

“You are to marry me at sunrise. Was that not made clear to you already?” Axolm reached out ran his finger gently down her cheek causing Rose to swallow down the bile rising up her throat. How she wished the Doctor was here with her. But no, he had to go get himself captured and thrown into the prison deep down in the bowels of Axolm’s sprawling palace with no hope of escape. Rose could see the sonic screwdriver tucked into the breast pocket of the kings fancy tunic like he won a medal or something. And now, she was to become the King’s prize. There was a tradition on this planet that the ruler must always marry an off-worlder at the beginning of their reign as a show of good faith to neighbouring planets and star systems.

She had to think fast. The sky was getting lighter by the minute, so sunrise was happening soon! Rose bit her lip as she tossed every single bad idea out of her head just as soon as it entered. Then it dawned on her. This marriage had to be legally binding so it would be accepted by the people of this planet. They were real sticklers for rules and regulations, even if the King wasn’t.

An idea suddenly dawned on her, and she almost laughed. Could it really be so simple? She just hoped the Doctor would forgive her for it.

“Well, you can’t marry me because I’m already married!” Rose declared. Axolm narrowed his eyes at her.

“The Doctor?” He spat. Rose nodded emphatically. “He can’t be your husband if he’s dead. He’s already slated to be executed during our wedding reception.” Rose held her ground. She wasn’t about to tell him that it wasn’t so easy to just kill the Doctor. Worse come to worse, she knew he’d regenerate. She hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.

“You sure you want to do that? He spent all day yesterday fortifying the Eastern quadrant of the city. Those people aren’t big fans of yours already and they’re ready to fight. Do you really want to risk that?” Rose’s heart was pounding against her ribs as she blatantly bluffed to his face. She took a step forward and boldly pushed Axolm in the chest. “Well, do you?”

“Makes no difference to me. They’ll be crushed under my heel for their insolence!” He sneered. Rose took a step back, wringing her hands together and worrying the cuffs of her dark blue jacket. She hung her head in defeat, her bottom lip wobbling.

“Can I just see him, then? One last time? Just let me say goodbye.” Rose pleaded, tears streaming down her face. Axolm lapsed into silence for a long moment as he considered. Finally he nodded sharply and Rose was led down into the prison.

–

The Doctor paced in his cell. It was cold, dark and also home to some large species of rodent that they didn’t seem to have any interest in keeping under control.

 _How did it come to this?_ He thought to himself. All he had wanted to do was have a nice, relaxing day out with Rose. Triox Prime was famous for it’s beauty and old world charm despite being quite technologically advanced. But the TARDIS just had to land them during the planet’s bloodiest civil war!

He ran his hand through his already mussed up hair. There were two guards keeping watch who were unfortunately loyal to the King, and there was no convincing them into letting him go. He couldn’t even see their faces behind their dark glass masks built into their helmets so he felt like his usual method of talking his way out would be pretty much impossible. He was pretty sure he could override the lock, but the controls were on the far side of the room and they already confiscated his screwdriver and gave it over to the king.

His only hope now was Rose. But if what he overhead the guards talking about earlier was true, she was due to be married to King “Arse _-_ olm” come sunrise!

Would he be forced to watch? The whole thing stabbed at his hearts and he felt a jealous rage building in his chest. How dare he use Rose as a pawn in his sick game! Traditions be damned, Rose was being forced to do this against her will and the thoughts of what the King would force her to do afterwords made the Doctor want to shed his pacifist ways and kill him!

He began counting the ways he would do it, and he was up to number 98 when he heard a door open nearby. The Doctor didn’t bother to look up. The guards were probably just changing shifts.

“You have two minutes to visit with your husband.” One of the guards intoned. “You may speak with him only through the bars.” The Doctor’s head snapped up and he ran over to the cell’s bars when he saw Rose approaching.

Wait, did that guard just say he was her _husband?!?_ The Doctor had no time to process this as she wordlessly stepped up to the bars, raised herself on tiptoe and kissed him soundly on the lips. He stood there stunned for a fraction of a second. The last time Rose kissed him like this, she had been possessed by Cassandra. He flicked his tongue out to taste her, to see if he could detect any hint that this wasn’t his Rose. Her mouth opened beneath his with a sigh, an invitation to his probing tongue. He pulled her closer despite the bars between them. There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt in his mind that this was _his_ Rose as she was making it perfectly clear that he was _her_ Doctor as her tongue began to dance with his.

He tried to break off the kiss so he could talk to her, but she only pressed herself closer to him. He could sense the increase of adrenaline in her system. Her fear and desperation. He gentled the kiss somewhat, trying to pour as much comfort in his touch as possible. Finally she pulled away panting harshly and took a half-step back.

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice cracked with emotion and the Doctor’s hearts both broke at once.

“That’s my line,” he cracked a ghost of a smile which she didn’t reciprocate. He liked his lips, still tasting her strawberry lip gloss. “I suppose you don’t have a plan on breaking me out of here?” He hung on to that sliver of hope. Rose pulled her hand out of her sleeve – he had noted that she worried the cuffs of her sleeves when she was scared or nervous – and reached out and took his hand. It took every shred of his willpower to stop himself from grinning like an idiot when he felt a familiar object press into his palm. He let go of her hand and brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek, straightening his arm enough so her gift easily slid down into his sleeve. He gently pulled her close once more, and Rose got the hint and kissed him again. He mouthed a ‘thank you’ against her lips before she pulled back.

“I love you.” Rose’s proclamation warmed the Doctor from the inside out. His throat swelled shut with emotion and he could feel the sting of tears behind his eyes. He knew how she felt already, but hearing her actually say the words was something else entirely. He vowed once they escaped he’d be able to tell her in return. For now he just gazed into her eyes. They weren’t out of this yet, there were so many ways the next few minutes could turn pear shaped, so he just said:

“Be brave, Rose Tyler.”

She nodded, pressed her lips to his once more, turned and walked away. He watched as she disappeared down the hallway, then focused his attention back to his surroundings. His cell was quite open concept, except for one blind spot. On the wall perpendicular to the bars lay the toilet facilities, such as they were, and to his delight a small privacy screen. It didn’t hide much, but he was glad this species did offer some dignity to their prisoners. He walked over and stood like he was about to relieve himself. The sonic screwdriver slid out from it’s hiding place in his sleeve and into his waiting hands. He looked about, acting like he was shy about peeing in public, but was expertly changing the settings on the sonic.

He glanced at the guards. Electronics in the helmets. Brilliant. There was no need for cameras in here, the helmets recorded everything. He figured it should be easy enough to short out and render them unconscious. He tilted the screwdriver so it was pointed at them but still hidden from view and activated it. The result was instantaneous! Sparks of electricity arched from one place to another for a few moments and the guards fell limply to the floor. Making another adjustment to the screwdriver, he stepped away from the wall and trained it on the door controls. The Doctor held his breath, and hoped it wasn’t deadlock sealed. The panel made a small chime and the cell bars retracted back into the ceiling.

He wasted no time as he sprinted as quietly as possible down the same hallway Rose had just walked down, part of his brain just now figuring out why Americans called his style of shoes ‘sneakers’. She only had one guard with her, who seemed oblivious to what happened to his mates. His helmet also erupted in a shower of sparks before he dropped to the floor. Rose spun around and fell into the Doctor’s waiting arms. He crushed her to him and spun her in a circle before settling her back on her feet.

“How’d you get the sonic?” He asked, grinning from ear to ear. She just shrugged modestly.

“Oh, y’know, you pick up a few things growin’ up on the estate. And Jack may have taught me a trick or two.” She gave him that tongue touched grin of hers, and the Doctor zeroed in on it now knowing exactly what it can do. He only just resisted the urge to kiss her again. They had to keep moving. He grabbed her hand and ran down a nearby hallway off the main path, hoping it would lead to a way outside.

“Dead end.” The Doctor hissed through his teeth. The sound of voices filtered down from the main hallway.

“I’ve been gone too long.” Rose realised. The Doctor found another door and quickly soniced it open, poked his head in and quietly giggled in glee. He looked back over at Rose.

“You’ve seen _Star Wars_ , right?” He asked.

–

“I seriously can’t see a thing.” Rose groused adjusting the helmet on her head. The Doctor had fixed their comlinks in the helmets so no one else could eavesdrop on them. He had stumbled upon a locker room full of guard’s uniforms and he and Rose quickly dressed up in a couple of them, eternally grateful that the palace employed more than just males. The Doctor quickly emptied the contents of one of the rucksacks guards carried around into a bin and stuffed their original clothes inside. Rose was quite surprised that he had even pushed his usual modesty aside and got changed right in front of her. It wasn’t like they had much choice. She felt like time was sort of against them.

“You sure they’re not gonna look for us in here.” Rose asked for the third time in so many minutes. The Doctor shook his head.

“That door was exit only before I opened it.” He explained finally. “You ready?” Rose gave herself one more quick look over and nodded at him. The Doctor surprised her again when he grabbed a couple large guns off the wall and handed one to her.

“You hate these.”

“Yes, but we need to blend in. Now remember: back straight, head forward, and walk with purpose. We’re on the lookout for a couple of alien fugitives and are under orders to investigate their ship.” The Doctor rattled off.

“You mean we’re just gonna leg it to the TARDIS?” Even with his face covered by the dark glass mask, Rose knew he was smirking at her.

Got it in one. Now, _allons-y._ ”

They walked out of the door at the far end of the room. Thankfully, the corridor outside was empty, but as soon as they reached the grand hallway they quickly blended in with the crowd of other guards who were looking for them. The only way Rose knew which one was actually the Doctor was because he adjusted her helmet’s HUD so it would outline him with a thick green line. She bit back a giggle. This was so ridiculous! No one paid them any mind as it just appeared they had joined the search.

Rose nearly stopped in her tracks when she heard Axolm’s voice booming from somewhere nearby to find and execute her and the Doctor. But she just focused on following the Doctor. She shuddered at the stray thought of what would have happened if Axolm never agreed to let her go see the Doctor. She would have been his wife by now and she doubted he would’ve had any qualms about violating her on her ‘wedding night’.

“Rose, come on.” The Doctor’s voice rang in her ears, and it was then she realised she had stopped walking. Panic had gripped her and she was nearly hyperventilating. Fear turned into rage. How dare he think he could treat someone like that! She looked down at the gun in her hands.

_How did you take the safety off this thing?_

“Just breathe.” The Doctor’s voice cut in again, “One step at a time, love.” Those words snapped her back into reality, the endearment catching her off guard. She pulled herself together enough to keep going. Thankfully, they hadn’t landed the TARDIS too far away, and less than twenty minutes later they were home.

Rose ripped off her helmet and threw it as hard as she could. It ricocheted off one of the roundels and clattered to the floor. She didn’t even register that the Doctor had already taken them back into the time vortex. He pulled her into his arms and Rose clung to him for dear life.

“I thought about killing him too.” The Doctor murmured into her hair, “I might have done if he actually hurt you.” Rose pulled back to look him in the eyes, gasping at the intensity she saw in them.

“You really would have.” She made it a statement instead of a question. The Doctor cupped her face, his thumbs gliding over her cheekbones.

“You have no idea how precious you are to me, Rose Tyler. I’m afraid that one day I am going to snap, all for the love of you. We made it today but…” He snapped his jaw shut and took in a shuddering breath, “I’m so hopelessly in love with you.”

“What about that whole ‘Curse of the Time Lords’ thing?” Rose asked.

“Just my way of saying that I can’t bear to lose you like I almost did today.” Rose’s breath caught as the Doctor brushed the tip of his nose against hers. “I just want to lock you up in here, and have you all to myself. But I’m afraid that would make me just like him.”

“There’s a difference, though: I want you too.” Rose closed the scant distance between them and kissed him softly. “You’re not going to lose me for a good long time, Doctor.” He opened his mouth, most likely to protest but the words died on his tongue the moment Rose nipped at it after she sealed her lips over his.


End file.
